This is what the analysts of the Ukrainian energy sector say. According to their opinion, in Ukraine traditional natural gas used for heating is more and more often substituted by agricultural pellets (straw and sunflower husk fuel) and pellets of wood waste (wood chips, sawdust).
For the time being, most projects connected with installation of solid fuel boilers are sponsored by private investors, who put up their funds in new technologies in order to provide own enterprises and in some cases private consumers with thermal and electrical energy. According to specialists’ calculation, changing boiler houses over alternative fuel has already allowed owners of companies to reduce the consumption of liquid gas by 63 million cubic meters, which in monetary terms is 283 million UAH. At the same time, the costs for heat decreased to 350-400 UAH per Gcal/hour (previously the average costs were 750-850 UAH per Gcal/hour).
However, according to experts’ opinion, in Ukraine biofuel resources are used to a minimum, because today the country has an opportunity to replace about 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas by biomass. For reference, in Ukraine the annual production of sunflower husk is over 1 million tons, cereal straw - 10 million tons, wastes from wood processing industry - 1.8 million tons. In other words, the most valuable fuel resources that can help to reduce the cost of thermal energy and thus cease subsidizing of the natural gas market are simply under our feet.
If the domestic enterprises of communal and industrial sectors increase their substitution of natural gas by alternative energy, they will be able to save about 20 billion UAH on the annual heat production. This will reduce heat tariffs by 10-15%. Such figure is quite significant, because in order to compensate the difference between the tariffs and the cost of heat, 25 billion UAH are annually allocated from the state budget to be given to utility enterprises.
The specialists of the energy sector calculated, for the implementation of the projects devoted to the improvement of energy efficiency at enterprises the sum of $ 27 billion UAH is required. In the future this amount will be able to provide significant revenues, at the same time state funds allocated as subsidies may be paid back in less than two years. The annual revenue of the state budget will be increased by more than 20 billion UAH. This, in turn, will allow to become independent from the IMF and other foreign creditors.
The head of the State agency on energy efficiency and conservation Nikolai Pashkevich says, that in Ukraine for the successful promotion of energy efficiency projects, it is primarily necessary to inform domestic consumers of their potential benefits. According to the opinion of Mr. Pashkevich the interest in the rational use of energy should become wide-scale, and only then the appropriate conditions and resources necessary for the implementation of energy-saving technologies will appear.
